Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Senator to please understand that this legislation is entirely to do with the zero to six nautical mile limit, and the Spanish are not coming in there at all. He is confusing apples and oranges. There may be an issue where the fishing industry in its broader manifestation perceives that because we are in the EU, Spain takes fish out of what we perhaps traditionally consider "our" territorial waters. However, under voisinagethis is absolutely and only an arrangement for Northern Ireland boats to come to our waters and for our boats to go to Northern Ireland waters on exactly the same terms as Northern Ireland fishermen fish in their waters. What we are seeking to do in this legislation is to provide that reciprocal arrangement, in other words, that they could fish in our zero to six nautical mile zone on exactly the same terms as our boats would fish in theirs. It has nothing to do with the broader Common Fisheries Policy or member states other than the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.